The Sixth Age

A destiny Five Ages in the making.

Five ages have passed since the great war the Gods and the Primordials fought over the fate of the worlds. After years and years of struggle, and fighting, and losses on both sides, the Primordials struggle to return life to the Elemental Chaos failed, and they were sent back to the swirling maelstrom and imprisoned there. And so, the three worlds, the Middle World, a place of Diversity and peace, the Feywild, a world of lush greenery and magic, and the Shadowfell, where the dead passed through over beautiful nocturnal scenes and under a starry sky to the great unknown, passed into what would become the First Age.

During the first age, which became known as the Golden Time, all the races of the worlds were at peace, and everywhere was prosperous and the people happy.

However, this state of peace could only last so long, and eventually the gods began to fight among themselves. They fought over control of the world, and of the Feywild and Shadowfell. Corellon fought with Lolth, who’s people were eventually banished to the dark. Vecna was sent away for his desires to control the lives of men, and Asmodeous was sealed away into his realm, the nine hells, for trying to conquer the worlds with his army of Devils. Eventually, the evil gods were one by one sealed away and destroyed, and thus the Second Age of the World, the War of Millennia, passed into history.

As the Third Age began, the worlds were still in a state of chaos. After the bloodshed of one thousand years, the races of the worlds had become distrustful of one another, and began to war among themselves. As feuds, now an age old, began to deepen, and as old alliances turned sour, the land became ravaged and life in all the worlds was threatened. The gods could only watch as the Middle World and the Shadowfell, where most of the fighting was taking place, were destroyed, having vowed to never again interfere with the affairs of mortals after the destruction wrought by the War of Millennia. So, as the peoples of the worlds could see the end drawing closer, the greatest leaders from each race agreed that the wars must end, and so slowly the fighting began to cease. The eledarin, the gnomes and many of the other races of fey origin retreated to the Feywild, and many races went down into the Underdark or Feydark to live amongst themselves. The dwarves went to live in the mountains among the earth, and the elves to live among the trees. After all the races had secluded themselves from one another, the Third Age, the Age of Discontent, ended, and the Fourth Age began.

During the Fourth Age, the Days of Restoration, each race set about trying to repair its habitat after the damage of the Third Age’s war. Although the first century was hard on all the races, eventually they began to repair the Middle World. Through the magic of it people, the Feywild was restored to its former splendour. However, the Shadowfell, which had been used as one huge battlefield during the war, never recovered due to the large presence of death. It became a dark, barren place, that was feared, and only the darkest of races with some connection to the dead remained there.

Eventually, the people of the World realised that in order to fully restore their world to the way it was, during the First Age, they had to come together and co-exist, as each race could not live in isolation. So, slowly, the world began to return to the way it once was.And so, the world entered its Fifth Age. Although some ancient enmities still existed, the people of the Middle World were mostly at peace. Although many called this the Second Golden Time, in truth it was far from the first age. Too much damage had been done to the World during the Age of Discontent, and much of the land had been damaged beyond repair by war and magic. As time went on, the World did not continue to rejuvenate, and never reached its full beauty. The eladrin and other fey races that had retreated to the Feywild remained there, and slowly magic faded from the World. Gradually, many of the great magical creatures that had once inhabited the Middle World began to disappear, and the people forgot the old old ways of magic and ritual. Although some learned folk retained these secrets, many were lost to history, and only a rare few had the potential to become powerful users of magic. Despite these things, the World continued mostly in a state of peace. This fragile harmony continued for many decades, which turned into centuries.

Although most people relished this time of peace, one dark pair of eyes looked out over the land, and thought;

This world has grown obese, weak and lazy. It is ripe for plunder.

At the very same time, a strange pair of travellers were taking shelter in a dark old tomb against the torrential rain, just outside the hamlet of Stormward…